2025 SMEA Capstones & Theses: Tackling Real-World Environmental Challenges Through Interdisciplinary Research
The 2025 capstone and thesis projects at SMEA showcased a diverse range of interdisciplinary research addressing important environmental and social issues. Capstone teams collaborated with external partners to tackle real-world challenges, from enhancing environmental justice in flood management to exploring community benefit agreements for equitable renewable energy expansion. Our thesis-track students engaged in rigorous, independent research with topics ranging from marine science to policy analysis. Collectively, these projects reflect SMEA’s commitment to integrating science, policy, and community engagement in addressing complex environmental problems.
Below, you will find a list of our students’ projects and links to watch their presentations.
Thesis:
Sara Adams: 𝑈𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑀𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑆ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑄𝑢𝑖𝑒𝑡 𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑉𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑙 𝑆𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 (May 16th at 11:30am)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfC_UEoRNeQ
Thor Belle: 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯: 𝘚𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘍𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘥-𝘉𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘓𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘪 𝘚𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 (May 23rd at 3:30pm)
No recording available
Molly Bidwell: 𝘚𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘚𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘌𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘙𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘋𝘦𝘭𝘵𝘢 (May 23rd at 1:00pm)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKflKVV7I2k
Mel Good: 𝑇𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐷𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑏 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ 𝑃𝑢𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 (May 16th at 3:00pm)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7s9t90bxHI
Taylor Hughes: 𝘌𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘦𝘭𝘱 (𝘕𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘰𝘤𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘵𝘬𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘢, 𝘗𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘦) (May 23rd at 10:30am)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9avR95xblCQ
Anna Jo: 𝑀𝐶𝑆 𝑜𝑓 𝐹𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠: 𝐴𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑃𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑦 𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑈𝑆, 𝐴𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑎, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑍𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐿𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐾𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑎 (May 16th at 11:00am)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM7hvqhoRZw
Kayley Pingeon: 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘙𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘙𝘰𝘰𝘵: 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘏𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵 & 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘍𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 (May 23rd at 4:00pm)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiRzoEmg0Qk
Micaela Soldi: 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘎𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘦𝘢: 𝘙𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘖𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 (May 23rd at 11:30 am)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMDYaJKW750
Luke Weaver: 𝘋𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘶𝘭𝘧 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘢 (May 23rd at 2:30 pm)
No recording available
Capstone:
Carson Green, Maxwell Perkins, and Samantha Friborg: 𝘈 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘈𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘍𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦, 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘴𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘐𝘯𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭-𝘌𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴 (May 23rd at 1:30 pm)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oAGN58l_zE
Elyse Kelsey, Karina Thiel-Klare, advisor Dave Fluharty, and Indra Behar: 𝐼𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐸𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑃𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝐵𝑖𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒: 𝑎 𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑜𝑓 155 𝑆𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠 (May 16th at 10:00 am)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nInEvAx7o5M
Kyla Bivens, Delaney Cyphers, and Kenza Oualim: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘖𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘯 (Winter)